…making contact with paper

Well, I was asked to draw a “sexy” chick, and I finally had some time to search for the right pose and draw her today. Here is the process I used to draw this “life” drawing. In this case the pose was from a picture I found on the internet of a nude model. I changed her pose slightly. My objective was to make her have both a sensual pose and look on her face, instead of that of a cold blooded killer. The medium used for this drawing will be pencil. I started the drawing off on regular photocopy/bond paper.

1. First and foremost is to get the correct pose of the person down. At this point, you also have to make sure the drawing will fit on the page. I start by drawing loose and gestural bone structures to get the overall gesture. In order to proportion the body correctly, I use the size of the head as a reference and split up the paper. This allows me to easily make sure the proportions are correct. Remember to draw light, and don’t bother using an eraser.

2. The most important step at this point is to check to make sure the posture, proportions, and locations for all of the body parts are correct. If they are too far off, you can always start over since you have not invested a lot of time at this stage of the drawing. Start off with light and gestural contour lines to draw in the body. Recheck the proportions, and then pick the correct line and darken it, following the nuances of the model. Once the outline of the body is drawn in and looks correct, the facial features can be drawn in.

3. I will usually photocopy the drawing and work out designs for clothing, armor, accessories, etc.

4. Once I have everything correctly proportioned, and the details of the clothing are decided on, I will use the drawing as an underlay and trace over it with Bienfang Graphics 360 marker paper. As I trace I change the pencil pressure to create light to dark lines keeping in mind my light source. This gives the drawing more life and a sense of light. The details are all refined and the drawing is done and ready for photoshop, or shading. Unfortunately I was at the limit of my scanner and so the detail of the sword’s saya (scabbard) did not come through. If needed, you can use a kneaded eraser to lighten up dark lines, etc.